tenant problem
I own a 3 family which I also live in. One of my tenants decided that he wanted to paint his apartment and bought paint last winter. He later asked me to help him paint and I painted his bedroom. Now he has decided that I must paint his entire aprtment and has become hostile…
I own a 3 family which I also live in. One of my tenants decided that he wanted to paint his apartment and bought paint last winter. He later asked me to help him paint and I painted his bedroom.
Now he has decided that I must paint his entire aprtment and has become hostile and aggressive, ,barraging me with nasty emails and phone calls. I have told him that I will paint his apartment, on my own schedule, and have not made any promises. Today he paid his rent, a week late, and deducted 220.00 for the paint he bought. He provided me with a credit card receipt from a paint store, with the total of his purchase, but not an itemized receipt. Is it legal for him to do this? I want to return his rent check and tell him I will reimburse him for the paint,separately from his rent when he gives me an itemized receipt and that he cannot deduct anything from his rent. Is it okay for me to do that? In 12 years, I have never had a tenant like this and am not sure how to handle the situation.
You’re an artist – now it all makes sense. If you don’t want to do this business, why are you doing it for a business? Becuase the ‘yuppies’ you disparage who work so hard pay you rent, that’s why. Seems to me complaining about the hours people work to pay you your rent is rather pointless. Maybe you shouldn’t rent to workers, only trust funders. Mediation isn’t appropriate in this case anyway, in my opinion. Hiring a management company won’t really help you to not deal with your tenants when you live in the building, you do realize. Except I think you like this too much.
Thanks bxgrl, mediation is a possibility. This tenant either has to straighten up or he’s out, no question. I would offer mediation but I doubt if he’ll go. And I seriously doubt if he’d file an hp for the same reason-he works 80 hours a week and wouldn’t take the time. I already served him with a rental agreement rider notice that his rent is going up 350.00 August first, I returned the rent check he gave me today, refusing to accept it because the amount was incorrect. The reason I’m going to hire a management company is not that I’m afraid of my tenants, it’s that I don’t want to spend my time doing crap like this. My purpose in life is making art, not squabbling with aggro yuppies. And vanburenproud, I know what you mean, the man I bought this place from was going into foreclosure because he was just too nice. The tenants here were paying nothing, he tried to raise their rent $50 and they all screamed, so he backed down, and couldn’t keep up his mortgage payments.When I bought this place, th first thing I did was get rid of those tenants, and I will do the same with this guy if he doesn’t straighten out immediately. Like I said before, I’d rather not go through an eviction, but I’ll do what I have to do.
Keep your fingers crossed he does not file an hp (housing part) in housing court.
HP filers get free lawyers from the court, regardless of assets or income .
Yes, it applies to all rentals free maket as well
Ny has kafkaesque laws on every subject known to man!
Go to the website Unified court system and search.
NYC civil court housing part
Starting an hp proceeding to get repairs.
don’t know if this is a help or not but bodhi brooklyn posted on the dog walker thread about Safe Horizon providing a free mediation service and maybe that might be worth trying- assuming the tenant wants to be reasonable.
If he doesn’t, I’m not sure the tenant hasn’t already gotten a take no prisoners attitude for whatever reason, and really wants to create as much difficulty as he can. In the long run it’s up to you to decide what would create the least amount of stress- living with him under your roof and wondering what else he’ll do, or evicting him. If he refuses to even discuss the situation with you, maybe this would be the time to get the managing agency you were considering and let them take care of it.
Stay away from confrontational situations with this particular tenant.
Do not engage him. The situation can be troublesome beyond your control.
For a fraction of the cost of a lawyer, I will remove this individual from your home. done and done. feh
I disagree that a man would never be offered the advice to communicate more clearly, 8:17.
I am a woman, and I deal with all landlord/tenant issues because my (male) partner is way too nice about stuff and winds up assuming that everyone’s on the same page.
Flora’s situation could easily happen to my partner, because he assumes that people are nice.
This makes him one of my favorite human beings, but he and I can both admit he’s not the greatest landlord.
He’s playing an emotional game with you. I think you’re making this far more difficult than it needs to be. Don’t sweat the small stuff, ( and that’s what this is ).. Remind him who the landlord is and ask him to leave.
“Just one last question to the fellow landlords here: if you had a tenant who threatened to withhold rent to force you to do work in his/her apartment that you actually are not required to do, or not able to do as soon as they are demanding, how would you respond to the threat to withhold rent?”
We always bring up the lease. It clearly states, rent can not be withheld because of repairs.
Your choice of words like, “force” and “demanding” worry me.
Take ownership of your home and be firm. Your tenant is taking advantage of you.
I think hiring an outside agency to deal with him is a bad idea at this point. You guys were buddie buddie.
He will smell your fear and as soon as they (agency) leave, he may scare you and cause all sorts of complications.
Talk to him and explain your heart condition… then tell him your lawyer is taking over, you’re exhausted. And keep it moving.
You don’t need the stress, and plus you know his business so it’s all good.